Other People's Kids

Friday was a particularly bad day for Van in the sense that in all five of the interviews, the women asking the questions had no idea about personal space. One even had her hand on his thigh at one point. I was so proud of myself for not hissing and spitting at her, instead settling for setting her hair on fire in my mind. Not so cute with charred extensions are you love? And your lips fillers are melting? Oh no! Poor you!

          I was still finishing up the scripts, but was struggling to concentrate between the girlish, high pitched squeals of delight and the valley girl giggles that emanated from the cookie cutter blondes they had inflicted on us today. More dumb questions, more twitching from my beloved, more sitting on my hands to stop myself scratching eyes out. This place was making me very aggressive and prone to violence.

          I excused myself to get Van some lunch. He asked for cigarettes and coffee, but that wasn’t happening.

I found a café easily enough, loving that it was a little independent place and not one of the huge brands that dominated every street corner here.

I was looking at all the amazing things behind the glass counter when a beautiful pair of brown eyes met mine.

          “Hello, how can I help you?”

He must have been my age or there about, his colouring making me think that one of his parents must have been Asian. He was beautiful with his obsessively styled hair and gentle smile. The geek chic glasses were adorable too.

          “Stupid question, but is any of this Vegan?” I was used to people not understanding what a Vegan was. It came with the territory.

          “Don’t tell anyone, but all of it is. I’m a Vegan myself. I used to label everything as Vegan, but sales went through the floor, so now it’s on the DL.” His accent was definitely American, but I couldn’t tell from where. I was getting used to waiters and coffee shop workers being struggling actors or models and assumed he was one or the other.

          “You are my hero.” I said, flirting ever so slightly. I pointed over several things to take, trying to give Van a balanced meal that he might actually eat. The guy boxed them up for me.

          “Your accent is very cute by the way.” He said, making me blush.

          “I was thinking exactly the same thing about yours.” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

He laughed.

          “Um…I don’t usually do this but…would you be offended if I asked for your number?”

          “Why would you want my…oh.” I blinked. No one hit on me ever, and certainly not in this land of perfect people where normality was a sin and you didn’t leave the house without at least six layers of make up on. I currently wore none, just the usual sunscreen.

          “Here’s my card.” I said, taking out one of the elegantly printed things Van had had made for me.

          “PA huh? I’m thinking I might be aiming out of my league.” He blushed. He actually blushed! This incredibly beautiful guy was flirting with me and blushing! What the hell! Had I fallen into some alternate dimension or hit my head?

          “Trust me, I have no idea of what I’m doing. Anyway, you’re no doubt an actor or model as a first choice of career?”

          “No….just work here.”

Stupid girl you’ve made him feel bad about himself.

          “Good. I hate how pretentious actors and models are, even though I work for one.”

He laughed, his whole face lighting up with it. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and handed me my bag, his fingers brushing mine as he passed it to me. There was a jolt, I’ll admit it.

          “I’d love to hear from you.” I said, feeling like I was high on something and empowered beyond recognition.

          “I’ll call you after work, if that suits you?” He was twisting his hands around each other nervously. He was so cute!

          “I work weird hours, but if I’m not around I’ll call you back. Thank you for this.” I held up the bag. “Bye.”

          “Bye Georgiana…” he read my name from the card. “I’m Masanobu.”

          “Pleased to meet you Masanobu. Awesome name. I love Ando Masanobu the actor.”

He smiled, blushing again.

          “I’ll speak to you later then.” I said, turning to leave.

          “Ok…bye.”

 

Wow. I don’t think I’ve been chatted up in my life! No one has ever taken my number like that, it was insane! Is this how it was for the rest of the world?

          I practically skipped back to the studio, ignoring Van’s disapproval at my lack of caffeine and nicotine.

          “Eat it all or I’ll take you over my knee.” I said shaking my head as he examined a Panini like it might be poisoned. “You like bread, you like lettuce, tomato and salad so don’t look at me like that.” I couldn’t hide my smile. Two incredibly beautiful men in one day, I was a lucky girl.

          “But…it’s not caffeine.”

          “No sweetie, it’s not. This is called food. Normal people eat this stuff three times a day without being nagged.”

He rolled his eyes dramatically, but a smile was dancing at the corner of his lips. His eyes were heavily ringed with a lack of sleep and he was drained. Maybe food would help. I was amazed he was still alive with the amount he abused himself.

          “I got Vegan cupcakes for dessert!” I said happily, pulling out the brightly coloured cakes and handing him the pink one. The blue one was mine mwahahahaha!

          “You’re lucky you’re cute.” He said biting into the Panini with trepidation.

          “Wuss.”

He loved the sandwich and even stole half of mine, it was that good. I repaid the favour by stealing half the apple juice I’d bought him. I guarded the cupcake with my life.

          “Why did I get pink?” He asked.

          “Wow, someone’s sexist. Because I’m a girl I should have pink?” I pretended to be appalled, but he had me giggling within minutes.

 

Finally the interviews were over and we could go back to his. It was 6.30 by the time we arrived, and from the text I’d received from Sofia, they were on their way.

          “I’m going to the take out, what do you want?” I said, keeping up the charade.

He gave me his order and I made myself scarce, but not quickly enough. I ran into an extraordinarily stunning woman in the corridor with a blonde boy who had Van’s eyes.

          “Sofia?” I whispered, hoping Van couldn’t hear through the door.

She nodded and opened her arms to embrace me. I don’t even hug my family, but ok… I still really wanted to hate her for having this huge part of Van that I would never have access to. You can’t fight history and there was the small (incredibly tall for his age actually) issue of Luke. The photo Van had shown me hadn’t done him justice. He was gorgeous, but then both his parents were so it made sense. I could see both of them in his face. He had his father’s hair colour, but his mother’s delicate nose which was incredibly cute on him. He watched me embrace his mum, shifting his weight from foot to foot like Van does when he’s self-conscious.

          “Georgiana, it’s wonderful to meet you.” She whispered, kissing my cheek. “Luke, this is your dad’s assistant, she arranged all this.”

          “Call me George, or Iana, or Mac. Van has no end of nicknames for me.” I said with a smile.

          “Hi, I’m Luke.” He said, extending a hand for me to shake.

          “Hello Luke, your dad talks about you a lot. I hear you’re into American football. And you’re so tall! You can’t only be 12!” I said.

He reached out and hugged me as his mother had and I felt a little choked up. He didn’t know me, but was so full of warmth and affection.

          “Dad says you’re from England. I like your voice.”

I assumed he meant my accent, but coming from him it was sweet, not irritating.

          “I am and thank you. I should let you get in and see your dad, he needs cheering up as work is pretty boring for him at the moment.”

          “We brought him his favourite foods from New York.” Luke said, holding us a brown paper bag.

          “That will be just what he needs I think, along with a big hug. It was wonderful to meet you both and I’m sure we’ll see each other again pretty soon.” I smiled warmly at them both, feeling strangely at ease in their company. I couldn’t hate her. I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t. She was unreal. Being here had made me think that beauty = bitchiness, but she was all sweetness and light. I could see why he had loved her, but I couldn’t understand why it had ended. Hell, I’d go gay for her, she was awesome and they’d both raised this sweet, polite, gorgeous boy. I wasn’t feeling maternal, but I was feeling something. A little sad and melancholic perhaps?

          Sofia gave me another huge hug before bidding me goodbye.

Part of me wanted to stay and see how happy he was when he saw them, but it wasn’t my place. I was in his world, but also outside it.

 

          ‘Thank you for this. Love you Mac. It was just what I needed.’ The text read.

I’d reopened it about fifty times, smiling to myself as I did. The smile faded when I looked up at my ‘home’.

The flat was growing more depressing by the day as damp began to spread in the corners of the rooms and down the walls. I was literally seeing this place fall apart before my eyes. The sink was blocked and I couldn’t find the desk guy to tell him, so was flushing everything down the toilet. That meant that crazy lady upstairs came and banged on the door because I was making too much noise. I ignored her, put in my earphones and shattered my eardrums with my iPod and some Gackt in honour of Masanobu’s Japanese heritage.

          I spent way too much time staring at the phone that night, but he didn’t call. I wasn’t particularly surprised, but I was sorely disappointed and a little hurt. Why pretend you’re interested if you’re not?

I finished going through the scripts, noting that Van’s career would be effectively over if he went anywhere near two of these projects. The third was a possibility, but not very exciting or unique. I needed to sit him down and discuss the future. What were his goals work wise? What was he looking for specifically? Comedy? Action? TV? Movies? I put the notes on my new (old) laptop that Van had bought me a few days ago. He said it was necessary for my job and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I found a cheapish second hand one, heh heh heh.

I scribbled some questions down to ask him on Monday and lay on the bed staring at the ceiling until I lost consciousness.